Nizhónígo Nee Ado’ááł (Have a beautiful day)

On October 13, 2017, we held our third annual Naat’áánii Day at the District Office. The word Naat’áánii means leader in the Navajo language.

Wow! We had a wonderful turn out. We had diverse students from six high schools in Nebo School District come to the District Office for a speical presentation. Our Title VI team was very moved by the amount of support our faculty and staff in Nebo School District give our diverse students on a daily basis. We are fortunate students in our school district have such wonderful principals, counselors, teachers, and technicians to look up to.

We had seven booths at our Naat’áánii Day this year. We had booths from the following organizations: BYU Soar Program, Centro Hispano of United Way, Outrage from the Utah Health Department, Urban Indian Center of Salt Lake, Hope for Utah, Nebo Social Work Department, and Nebo Title VI Parent Committee. Each of these booths provided information about resources available to multicultural students. A big thank you to these organization for taking time out of their day to join us on our third annual Naat’áánii Day.

Our keynote speaker was Kee Miller of Springville, Utah. Kee is a production designer, set designer, set dresser, property master, and draftsman. Kee is half navajo, and half white. Kee was adopted at a very young age, and was raised by a wonderful family who always supported his goals and aspirations. Kee did a great job presenting his life story to our students. His story was relatable to many students, and his accomplishments are exceptional. Most importantly, Kee stressed the importance that you are in control to change our own story at any time in your life. Thank you Kee for presenting at Naat’áánii Day.

Last, but certainly not least, we had a prize giveaway, and ten lucky students received gifts cards from the following places: Sonic, Chick-fil-A, and Olive Garden. Our grand prize was a $25 gift card was awarded to Ryla Herder. Congrats, Ryla! We look forward to seeing you all at next year’s Naat’áánii Day. Thank you to all who participated, and made this day possible.

Our Navajo Language class is officially underway. It is offered every Tuesday at Larsen Elementary. We have a handful of high school students who have been making a great effort to come to class weekly, and have been diligent in their own learning process. This course is taught by Clayton Long, who is an Bilingual Director in San Juan School District. Clayton speaks the Navajo Language beautifully. The Navajo Language is such a complex, and dynamic language. These high school students who are currently taking this course are definitely using their higher order thinking skills to make connections between their primary spoken English language, and the Navajo Language. We are so proud of these high school students for their determination. Keep up the good work!

We are excited to announce our Cherry Creek After School Homework Lab has started! It is every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:00-5:00 at Cherry Creek Elementary in Springville. We have had a wonderful turn out as far, and would like any American Indian student to join us. This lab offers help with homework, reading, writing, and math. Along with that, tutors from UVU SCUP are on-site to help and assist student with their individual academic needs.

On September 11, 2017, our Title VI dancers had the opporuintiy to perform at the groundbreaking for the Butterfly Biosphere at Thanksgiving Point. Despite their young ages, these dancers did a wonderful performance. These young dancers danced the fancy shawl dance. This dance orginated among the northern tribes. Fancy shawl dancers are intented to resemble butterfiles. They are called "fancy shawl" dancers because the shawl tend to be colorful, bright, frigned, and the length of the shawl is similar to a butterflies wingspan. These gracious young women did a excellent job performing at this event.

Debbie Reece created this website to share books and writings that are culturally accurate, I will share with you her thoughts about why AICL is an important website:

"Given these studies, I believe the books Native students read in school play a significant role in how Native students fare. Teachers and librarians have a role to play, too, in the success of Native students. For me--and I hope for you--that means selecting books that accurately portray Native people and our nations. I'm not after "perfect" Natives with no faults, but ones that portray us in all of our humanity, with the range of our emotions and actions. These books are important for non-Native students, too, because they deserve accurate books, too, no matter who the books are about. And, some of these non-Native students will grow up to be writers, or editors, or reviewers, or librarians, or teachers who write, read, and share children's and young adult literature."

So many books have been written by non-natives that were not accurate that I thought this would be helpful to you as well as Nebo School libraries.

I hope this is something that you find to be informative and helpful. Please call me if you ever want to collaborate with our program, we have a short video about our Camp Eagle Summer School that was recorded by Spanish Fork Channel 17 at this Nebo link about Camp Eagle Summer School: http://www.nebo.edu/

We are collaborating with Native American authors of the book "Edge Of Morning" Torrey House Press SLC. Regina Lopez Whiteskunk and Jackie Keeler will speak on June 23, 2017 at 5:00 - 6:00 pm and autograph books for those that purchase these books. Discounted rate for books is $15 - Come get your copy!

- Children's Play "Tricksters of the Animal World" will follow this event 6:00 - 7:30 pm at Larsen Elementary School.